Dancing in the Rain

Sometimes we just need to laugh. Have you noticed how drawn you are to people that have a sense of humor versus the ones that are always down and out about something? I love to laugh- sometimes with people and sometimes at people... but mostly with them.

I am fortunate to live in a house full of comedians. Just ask them- they'll tell you how funny they are. Their favorite joke is the one where the mom spends all day cleaning just to walk upstairs and find a brand new masterpiece mess. If that one doesn't get her funny bone- then they have a few others they keep on hand for back up.

Sometimes, when no one is looking or heaven forbid going potty- they like to empty the freezer, hide the food and then close the door so you don't realize that you'll be cooking to save 60 lbs of meat until enough thaw time has already passed. That one always cracks me up. I thought I'd play a trick of my own and lock the door... but they got the last laugh when they found the key.

One time- I spent 4 1/2 hours scrubbing the kitchen and dining room floor with a toothbrush. I stood up and yelled, "Ha!" They stood up and revealed that they'd been busy doing the same thing with my socks and the dirty bucket of water... it's OK- I wanted to re-mop it anyway. And another time... I watched them playing outside together. They were so cute and playing so nicely. I had a warm mommy moment and let them play while I read a little. I proudly went back to check on them and found that they were playing nicely together as they all gained up on my defenseless greenery. Every leaf was pulled as it served as confetti flying with the wind. I couldn't get upset at that because they were no longer attached to the trees anyway. Every branch had been broken off of four trees and the smallest of them was being equipped to serve as the base of a child size slingshot.

Rhino is funniest when he eats breakfast, lunch and dinner- twice and Puppy cracks me up when she becomes engrossed in Tiger's plots and acts as his accomplice in tree killing or drawing pictures all over the walls (I had to get after them but in reality I was very impressed with the fine motor skills). Tiger is too funny for words. He used to open windows and try to sneak out of the house- even if he was upstairs, but I put locks on them so now he just throws things at the glass. He still gets me laughing every time he surprises me with a pile of dumped out laundry mixed in with the previous contents of the entire closet and I don't think I'll ever stop laughing over the nights he spends flooding the bathrooms. Oh. Good times. Monkey got a late start- she is after all the youngest but she refuses to be left out of the last comic standing competition. In just a few short years she has managed to empty 50 lbs of flour into my pantry floor TWICE (and got a little help from curious bystanders), broke the glass out of my 5 ft tall curio cabinet, wore all my makeup at once to make herself pretty, used the markers to add a little color to her body (she was after all out of make-up) and my favorite was when she was reported by her siblings as "just playing". She was in fact just playing but the punch line was that she was just playing in the living room with a 1/2 gallon of pink paint. I tried to agree that the room looked better with a pink rug, pink couch and pink fireplace- but I just couldn't see it her way so we agreed to disagree.

It's toned down quite a bit over the last few months (I am VERY grateful that we're no longer laughing over Tiger's habits to put his potty any and everywhere but in the bathroom) but it's never ending. Just like every comedian- they start out with an innocent opening, wait until you relax in your chair with just a small grin on your face and then BAM- they do something that causes you to burst out with laughter to the point that you have to cross your legs to keep from embarrassing yourself and call for oxygen because you are for sure, that this time, you will DIE from laughing so hard!

Yeah- that's how I feel every time I get out of bed!

But who am I to keep all of this enjoyment to myself. Really though? You'd think I'd be completely crazy (or thin) from laughing so hard all of the time but the truth is- I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have two sayings on my fireplace mantel (that is no longer pink) "I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it" and "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass- it's about learning to dance in the rain!" It's always raining here, usually because someone has flooded the upstairs again but in general- we are busy, busy people. The kids are always trying to find new ways to crack me and I'm always trying to find new ways to crack them. I'm not sure our storm will ever pass and I'm OK with that because inside each one is so much sunshine that the thunder and lightening are nothing compared to feeling of dancing in the rain.

I'll probably always be laughing about the 6 lbs of ketchup we go through in one week (don't worry- they don't eat all of it- most of goes on the walls or under the table- be careful when you sit), the endless pile of mom's broken things because it all looked so pretty, relentless jumping across couches for the input it provides or glancing over my shoulders to see kids watering the grass because the toilet is all the way inside the house.

Not everything is funny; but most things are. Kids need to be taught- and we're teaching the best we know how but in the meantime, parents need to learn to laugh. Take a minute to find something that would normally drive you crazy. Before you react, ponder what must have been going through your child's mind at the very moment they chose to challenge the forces of parenthood. I would love to sneak inside to find out what my kids are thinking even half of the time but when I spend a little more time with them- I find that Fred Rogers had it right- "play is a child's work"- and they're just working.. very hard (those dedicated sweeties)!

So- take care of what needs to be taken care of and then spend a little bit more time laughing about what you cannot control. Try mopping the floor the way they do and see if it's not more fun- come on- I triple dog dare you- and if you find it hard to laugh in the face of childhood opposition or tapping into your own childhood mischief brings back only painful (backside) memories... laugh at ours- there's plenty to go around and we love to share!